Improvement in picture-frames



H. PATTBERG. Picture-Frame.

No. 213,344. Patented Mar. 18, 1879.

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N. PETERS, FHOTO-LIIHOGRAFHER. wnsnmm'on. n c.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HILARIUS PATTBERG, OF JERSEY CITY HEIGHTS, NEW JER SEY.

IMPROVEM ENT IN PICTURE-FRAMES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 213,344, dated March 18, 1879; application filed January 24, 1879.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HILARIUS PATTBERG, of Jersey (Jity Heights, in the county of Endson and State of New Jersey, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Picture and Mirror Frames, of which the following is a specification Figure 1 is a top view of a picture-frame having my improvement applied thereto. Fig. 2 is a vertical section thereof; Fig. 3, a back view of a modification of the same, and Fig.

4. a vertical section thereof.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.

The object of this invention is to provide a self-adjusting means for securing the back into the frame of a picture, mirror, or the like. Heretofore these backs were usually secured in place by small pins or nails, which had to be driven into the inner edges of the frame, so that their heads would bear upon the back. The application and frequent necessary removal of those pins were connected with considerable difficulty, and required the use of tools and implements, and often, also, the search after proper pins before a picturecould be properly framed. Moreover, the manufacturer of the frames sends them into market provided with proper backs, and sometimes with, sometimes without, glasses. In this condition they are sent to the consumer, and in this condition the manufacturer must secure the back in placegas otherwise it would be lost from the frame to which it pertains. The "consumer, thereafter, is obliged to take out the pins which fasten the back to apply the picture, and then to nail the back in again in aposition different 'from that in which it originally was, since the thickness of the picture or glass being added throws the back farther away from the front of the frame than before the picture was inserted.

In order to avoid all these difficulties, I apply to the back of the picture-frame a bar having a sharp or cutting end, which bar is made of harder material than the frame, and longer than the inner space within the frame, so that when this bar is placed against the back and turned against the inner edges of the frame it will cut its way into the latter end, and thus confine itself and everything in front properly in position.

In the accompanying drawings, the letter A represents a suitable picture or mirror frame, and B its back, which, of course, is removable, as in all such frames.

O is the improved bar which I apply to the back. It may either be pivoted to the back by a pin, a, as shown in Fig. l, or placed quite loosely upon the back, as indicated in Fig. 3.

The ends I) b of the bar 0 are sharpened or pointed, or otherwise made to be cutting ends or prongs, which will force their way into the material of the frame when applied to secure the back in position.

The bar G is made of metal or other suitable material harder than the substance of which the frame is composed. Frequently hard wood will answer for this purpose; but metal will usually be found preferable.

The manufacturer of the frame, when he sells the same without the picture in, will secure the back B in the frame by turning the bar 0 into the position shown by full lines in Fig. 1, so that it will cut into the frame and hold the back B in place.

The consumer, when he intends to place a picture, mirror, glass, or other thing into the frame, will simply turn the bar 0 into the position shown by dotted lines in the drawings, thereby liberating the back, allowing it to be removed, a picture to be inserted, the back to be replaced and to be relocked, in which new position the back will be at a greater distance from the front of the picture than it was before the latter was inserted.

I claim- 1. In combination with a picture or mirror frame, A, and back B, the fastening bar 0, constructed to cut into the substance of the frame, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

2. The combination of the back B of a picture or mirror frame with the locking and cutting bar 0, pivoted thereto, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

The foregoing description of my invention signed by me this 18th day of January, 1879.

HILARIUS PATTBEEG.

Witnesses:

T. B. MOSHER, W. G. E. SCHULTZ. 

